First evidence of high-molecular-weight bacteriocin (tailocin) produced by Antarctic Pseudomonas spp.

• Main Authors: Snopková, Kateřina, Sedláček, Ivo, Šmajs, David
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Masaryk Univerzity 2018
• Subjects: pyocin; tailocin; phage tail-like particle; antimicrobial agents; James Ross Island; Antarctic; Ross Island; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://journals.muni.cz/CPR/article/view/12925

Cold-adapted soil ecosystems represent dynamic communities varying in a structure, microbial abundance and metabolic activity. To antagonize competitors, soil bacteria produce a variety of inhibitory agents. We tested production of antimicrobials in Pseudomonas spp. isolated in James Ross Island, Antarctica, and performed transmission electron microscopic analyses of selected high-molecular-weight bacteriocin particles. The dimensions of R-tailocins produced by Pseudomonas sp. P2422 were 168 ± 2.0nm (length) and 16 ± 0.8nm (width) thus representing one of the largest tailocins secreted by Pseudomonas spp. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of tailocin production by bacteria originated from polar regions.